Teach Your Child The Significance Of 3Rs Of The Environment

3 to 7 years

Created by
Mamta Upadhyaya
Updated on Oct 18, 2017

It’s the year 2805. Earth is abandoned and its ghost towns are covered with mountains of trash. Humans have fled (evacuated by a space company) to another planet. A lonely robot WALL-E has been left behind by the company to clean up all the garbage of the cities. There is no sign of life. The movie warns that if we do not change the way we live and waste our resources our home Earth would indeed become full of trash and inhabitable for humans.

Many of you who have seen the movie would agree with me that it’s scary to even imagine something like this as our future. However, we all know that we are heading towards something similar. Consumerism and lust for modern amenities has given birth to a new culture of 'use and throw' which has eventually led us to produce lots of garbage that our landfills can no longer hold. This trash is the source of all our problems—pollution of rivers, land, air, depletion of natural resources and more.

This World Environment Day, we should all understand that we cannot solve this problem without understanding that we have to stop generating waste. And this can be done only by following the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Know their importance and teach their significance to your kids as well to make the Earth greener and better place for our future generations.

Reduce: The first step to avoid wastage is to use less of everything in our day to day living. Teach the kids that it’s as simple as reducing the use of water while brushing, taking a shower, and watering the plants. Tell them to switch off lights, ACs and fans when not in a room as it will help in saving energy and also your money! Ask them to make it a habit to not waste any paper and use both sides while writing. This way they can ensure that fewer trees are cut. Encourage them to carry lunch in lunchboxes and avoid using disposable bags or plastic. You as a parent should also reduce the use of plastic and paper bags for grocery shopping and make it a habit of carrying a cloth or canvas bag. You will be surprised that this simple habit can reduce the waste load by tonnes.

Reuse: Agreed, not everything can be reduced, but that does not mean that they cannot be reused. Most kids have clothes and toys in plenty. Instead of throwing them away, teach your kids to appreciate the reuse of clothes of his/her siblings if they fit him. Similarly, toys can be passed on to younger brothers or sisters or even friends. Unwanted clothes and toys can also be donated to charities or anyone who needs it. Teach the kids that a plastic bag can be reused many times before it’s thrown away. It can be saved and carried for grocery shopping and eventually as trash bags.

Even school bags, water bottles, uniforms, shoes and books can be reused if they are handed down to kids of economically-weaker sections in the same school. Many schools encourage their kids to donate the above items.

Recycle: The term 'Recycling' fascinates most kids as they could learn to use more products that can be used to create something new, after it is discarded. Make them aware of the process of recycling and all the materials that can be recycled - cloth, glass, paper, plastic, aluminium, timber and biodegradable items. Let them try to recycle kitchen waste and other biodegradable items into compost. Surprise them by showing how their old notebooks can be converted into paper bags, old clothes into a rug, and plastic bottles into a toy.

Believe me, these simple Rs would turn out to be more powerful than any lessons you can teach your kid on environment protection. So on this World Environment Day make them pledge and practice to live a life following the mantra of "Waste Not, Want not".

What changes are you going to make around your household? How do you and your children follow the 3 Rs? Let us know in the comments below!

I practice most of the above mentioned things at home. we always carry our bags to malls ,shops or market to avoid use of plastic bags, switch off car engine on red lights. my kids do drawing on pamphlets back side.. they also use left over water of their bottles to water plants. water left after washing clothes is used to wash balconies.. water after washing dals and vegetables is again used to water plants. very useful and handy tips . thanks for sharing!